After the Central Working Committee meeting failed to reach a solution regarding the general convention, some leaders of the moderate establishment party are in favor of Deuba being active.
What you should know
While the issue of whether to hold the party convention before or after the elections remains unresolved, efforts have begun to make President Sher Bahadur Deuba active in the Congress. Some leaders of the establishment faction in the middle lane have started emphasizing Deuba's activism, pointing out the risk that the growing controversy over the convention could lead to a split in the party.
Deuba and his wife and then Foreign Minister Arju Rana, who were attacked by protesters during the Gen-G movement, are currently undergoing treatment in Singapore. He left for Singapore on October 10, giving the responsibility of Vice President Purna Bahadur Khadka as the acting president. The meeting of the Nepali Congress Central Working Committee has not ended by the time Deuba returns. Nor has the meeting been able to take any decision on the general convention. Deuba is scheduled to return home this week. According to
sources, Deuba and UML President KP Sharma Oli are also holding talks about the political developments after the Gen-G movement. 'If Deuba had presided, the Congress meeting could have ended already, it would not have been trapped in such indecision,' a UML leader said a few days ago, quoting UML President Oli's response to leaders and workers close to him, 'We have not broken the agreement with the Congress.' But the issue of the general convention has been indecisive for a long time.’
While the issue of the general convention is not being resolved, some of the then lawmakers from the establishment party and Shekhar Koirala party have started signing in favor of the restoration of the House of Representatives. According to the then Chief Whip of the Congress, Shyam Ghimire, 50 people have signed by Monday and the number is still increasing. He said that the signatures will be submitted to make the issue of the restoration of the House of Representatives an agenda item in the party’s ongoing Central Working Committee meeting on Tuesday or Wednesday.
According to sources, the signings within the Congress started after the dialogue between Oli and Deuba. Ghimire claimed that the then lawmakers who were wronged by the lack of dialogue with the President were trying to exercise their natural rights. ‘We are going to submit signatures so that the party can make an agenda for the restoration of the House of Representatives.’ If the party does not make it and decides to go to the elections, we have asked them to allow us to go to court,” Ghimire said, “If the party does not allow us to do both, we will exercise our natural rights.”
When there was intense pressure within the party to leave the leadership after the Gen-G movement, Deuba had given the responsibility of acting president to Vice President Khadka from the first day of the central working committee meeting on 28 Asoj. Deuba had probably also given a speech with a message that he would not return to the leadership.
After that, Deuba did not attend the meeting. From 29 Asoj, acting president Khadka started presiding over the meeting. He also held a faction meeting, which had not been held for about four years. Deuba, who was elected president for the second time at the 14th general convention held in 2078 Mangsir, had stopped holding faction meetings. Due to which the establishment side was becoming disintegrated. Khadka has been repeatedly holding faction meetings, even giving the message that he will be the party president. However, he has become a prisoner of indecision since he is not universally accepted by the establishment group.
A petition has been registered on 29 Asoj itself, demanding a special general convention, with the signatures of 54 percent of the general convention delegates. There is a provision in the statute that a special general convention must be called within three months from the date of the demand. However, the seven former office bearers Gopalman Shrestha, Krishna Prasad Sitaula, Bimalendra Nidhi, Prakashman Singh, Shashank Koirala, Vijay Kumar Gachhadar and Prakash Sharan Mahat, who are still on the establishment side, have shown a firm stance not to hold any kind of general convention before the 21 Falgun elections.
Mahat is also the spokesperson of the party among the seven former office bearers. Shrestha is in India for treatment, so he has not been very active in the latest developments. Six leaders have increased pressure on Khadka to get a decision from the central working committee to prevent any kind of general convention from being held before Baisakh.
Since a demand has been made with signatures for a special general convention, a group within the establishment party is in the middle of the trend to bring a regular general convention schedule within Mangsir-Pus. 25 central members of the middle group met on Sunday and took a stand to bring a regular general convention schedule before the election. Before Deuba left for Singapore, the middle leaders of the establishment party had tried to reach a consensus by bringing a regular general convention schedule for the first week of Poush with the support of Deuba. However, after seven former office bearers blocked it and did not allow it to proceed, there is an attempt to invite Deuba back to active politics, saying that the risk of division within the party has increased.
‘When the proposal came to bring a regular general convention schedule within the first week of Poush by getting President Deuba to agree, and to keep the coordinator of the active membership investigation committee and the majority members from the establishment side, the 6 former office bearers refused to accept it.’ A leader from the establishment side said, ‘It was seen that they were adamant that they would not give any space to General Secretary Gagan Thapaji in the party.’ The simple meaning of that was that if Gagan came to the leadership from the general convention, their political relevance would end.’ That is why some friends have suggested that if President Deuba presided over the meeting, there would be a way out.’ The then chief whip Ghimire said that he had also heard such a thing. ‘I do not believe that he will return to active politics again since he has already given an acting president,’ he said.
Sitaula has been seen as the most lenient in not allowing the general convention to be held before the elections. A few days ago, in a conversation with Kantipur, Sitaula had said that the general convention should not be held before the election. Sitaula was also very angry that the general secretaries were campaigning for a special general convention when the country was in crisis.
Even after more than two months of the Gen-G movement, the Congress has not been able to take a formal decision on going to the election. Many leaders who spoke at the central working committee meeting have voted in favor of the election. Since the party has not been able to make a decision, Congress MPs have also moved forward with the UML's agenda of restoring the House of Representatives. On the one hand, the Congress is getting embroiled in controversy over the issue of the general convention itself, while on the other hand, the Congress is confused even over national issues. Acting President Khadka is unanimous in favor of uniting the party. However, he is unable to come out of the pressure from conservative leaders within the party.
